A Heart for the Past
by barbramanitee
Summary: When Hermione drops her timeturner she is sent back into a time when the Maruaders ruled the school. She falls in love and helps Lily and James get together. How will this effect the future, her life?
1. Chapter 1

_Hi there! Just wanted to say a couple of things. First, J.K. Rowling is the amazing author and all of the characters belong to her. Second, please, please, please review! I would really like to know what people think about my story, even if its bad, although I really would like it to be good :) So anyone that reads this, could you be an even more really wonderful person and review? thanks bunches _

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" Oy! Potter, Mudblood, and Weasley!" Draco Malfoy sauntered up to the trio, a smirk on his pale face.

"Just ignore him. He's trying to be smart." Hermione muttered uselessly as Harry and Ron turned around to face the Slytherin, irritated glares on their faces.

"I think I saw your house, Weasley, during the train ride up here! You know the one. Kinda square, made of cardboard, and in the dumpster with the rest of the trash." Malfoy snickered at his own wit, "Hope you've got room for one more, seeing as how poor little Potter doesn't have any muggle-loving parents of his own!" Ron flushed red in anger and Harry's green eyes narrowed as Crabbe and Goyle guffawed stupidly.

Surprisingly, it was Hermione who stepped forward.. "I've had it with your stupid comments Malfoy! Why don't you just go and impress someone else with your repetitive vocabulary." Ron and Harry, mouths hanging open in shock, looked at Hermione with disbelieving expressions. Hermione's steely glare remained determined despite the flustered pink that colored her cheeks.

Draco's ice cold eyes locked onto her own before his quiet, intense voice filled the tense atmosphere. "How dare you talk to me, you filthy little mudblood. I'll teach you to respect your superiors!" He literally spat at Hermione's feet, disgust written all over his features.

Ron leapt forward, wand fizzing red sparks, and bellowed a curse. In his anger he missed Malfoy, and Crabbe's ears grew enormously and proceeded to box him about the head.

Staggering backwards, Malfoy swung a green curse towards them, hitting Harry square in the chest before he fell backwards over Goyle, who was trying to hold Crabbe's boxing ears still.

Harry gasped in surprised anger, looking down at his shirt, which had shrunk to the size of a toddler's. "Thats my favorite shirt!" He exclaimed as it ripped along the shoulders when he cast a spell at the Slytherins, hitting Goyle in the bottom.

Hermione hit Malfoy in the face with a powerful spell right after he shot a curse at Ron. Draco's missed terribly and some second year's face erupted into massive red pimples, causing high pitched screams. But Hermione's aim was true and he went flying backwards, arms and legs flailing in the air as he flew across the Hogwarts grounds.

Hermione watched him plummet to the earth, a satisfied look on her face, before she became aware of the chuckles behind her. She whipped around to see Harry and Ron leaning on each other laughing hysterically, "So much for 'Just ignore him', eh Hermione?" Ron sputtered out in between disbelieving snorts of laughter.

The hilarity of the moment died quickly when Professor McGonagall came marching up to them dragging a battered Malfoy behind her. "What is the meaning of this?! The second day of the school year and there are Gryffindors-Gryffindors!-dueling on the Hogwarts grounds between classes! This is preposterous!" She froze midsentence, taking in the scene around her. Her eyes widened as she saw Goyle, the front of a lama growing out of his rear end, trying to pin down Crabbe's huge ears which were straining to beat Crabbe's head in.

"But Professor! They called Hermione a-" Harry was interrupted by a swift glare from the seething Professor.

"This is disgraceful! Thirty points from Gryffindor! Thirty from Slytherin! Miss Granger, you can march yourself right up to Dumbledore's office and explain this whole situation! I am extremely disappointed, I would never have expected such behavior." McGonagall paused and glanced at Harry's shrunken shirt, one eyebrow raised. Harry smiled sheepishly at her, and swore he could detect the faintest trace of a smile on McGonagall's tight lipped grimace.

"You three!" She declared, pointing at Ron, Harry, and Draco, "Help carry these two up to Ms. Pomfrey! NOW!" she yelled. Hermione squeaked and ran away as Ron and Harry looked at each other before stooping down to help Malfoy try to lift the two goons.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione wrung her hands together nervously as she stood before the imposing statue of a gargoyle. She had never been sent up to the Headmaster's office before! Never, ever, ever! How was she going to explain herself to Dumbledore? This was the most serious trouble that she had ever been in! She imagined the old wizard's look of surprise which would fall into a look of deep disappointment. Her heart beat to a funeral march.

"Oh sugar quills!" she cursed quietly, surprising herself.

She jumped backwards in shock when the monstrous gargoyle stood up and moved to the side, revealing a doorway. She hesitated before jumping onto the spiraled staircase which was corkscrewing upwards.

Hermione hopped from one foot to the other, wringing her sweaty hands and chanted a low, "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." when the staircase stopped spiraling upwards, with her standing right in front of what could only be the door to Dumbledore's office. She took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, she was after all a Gryffindor, and swiftly opened the door and marched into the room.

She gasped. The room was, Hermione decided, the most beautiful room that she had ever seen in her whole entire life. She marveled at the many books of every shape, size, and color that filled the bookshelves that covered the entire wall to her left. Her hands, which she had been twisting about nervously, fell to her sides as she stared at the numerous silver, magical instruments that littered every surface of the room. The majestic glass windows behind the mahogany desk illuminated the room with bright and cheery sunlight.

"Sapphire or violet? " Dumbledore's calm voice interrupted her thoughts, causing her to jump in surprise.

She turned around so fast that her bushy hair smacked her face. Dumbledore stood behind her, eyes twinkling for a moment before he walked over to a wall and rubbed a hand over the white surface. "I think its about time for a new color scheme, don't you? Sapphire or violet?"

Hermione furrowed her brows, blinking in confusion, "Um...sapphire?" She watched curiously as Dumbledore took a step back from the wall and raised his wand in the air before bringing it down in a graceful, swishing motion. Sapphire blue light spilled from his wand onto the white wall in front of him, where it trickled like water around the many shelves and filled the room with the color.

"Ah yes. That is much better." Dumbledore gave her a nod of approval, sticking his wand into his silver belt, "Now, Miss Granger. To what do I owe the pleasure of this moment of redecoration?"

"Oh!" Hermione's stomach dropped through the floor, somehow she had managed to forget her purpose for visiting the Headmaster's office. She blushed, "Professor Dumbledore I-"

Just then a loud ringing filled the room, interrupting her. "Oh, would you be so kind as to excuse me for a moment?" Dumbledore asked absently as he hurried up some stairs and through a door on the right side of the room, without even waiting for her answer.

As soon as the door closed firmly behind him Hermione let out breath that she didn't know she was holding and let her tense shoulders drop down in relief.

She was just wondering what in the world could have made that noise when her eyes caught onto a familiar golden object resting on the Headmaster's desk. "Oh!" she exclaimed, a grin escaping as she hurried over to the desk and snatched up the instrument. It was the (timetable/timeturner) that she had used in her third year because she had foolishly taken more classes than she had time for. She held it up to the sunlight streaming through the windows, watching it sparkle beautifully. It had been extremely useful when Harry and herself had used it to save Sirius, Harry's godfather, and Buckbeak, Hagrid's hippogriff.

"Would you care for a cookie Miss Granger? They are fresh out of the oven." She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that the sound of Dumbledore's voice caught her by surprise. She gasped, stepping backwards, and tripped over a book on the floor and fell to the ground with a crash. She heard a soft, tinkling, crunch beside her head as the timetable fell to the floor. She twisted around to see it, and shrieked in horror when she saw that it had broken and was spilling sand from the miniature hourglass all over the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione had just enough time to glance up at Dumbledore, terrified before it happened.

Time fractured around her and she found, to her disbelief, that she couldn't move.

Frozen, she could only watch in dismay as the world swirled around her in a dizzying whirlwind of shapes and colors. Light flickered on and off with an intensity that she couldn't comprehend as days and nights flashed by her. Some distant part of her mind was vaguely aware that she must still be in Dumbledore's office and that the light was flashing from the great windows that were churning around her immobile form.

She was just wondering if she was going to be stuck in this distorted existence forever when it came to a stop so sudden and severe that she felt like she had just been punched in the stomach by a giant.

She lay on the floor feeling like her brain had melted and was now dribbling out of her ears, when she became aware that someone was screaming.

This frightened her, and she tried to bring her body to a kneeling position, but fell back to the floor as a tidal wave of nausea consumed her. Her squeamish stomach somersaulting in her gut, Hermione opened her eyes only to find that her vision was distorted and blurry with a dark haze creeping in on the corners. Squeezing her eyes shut, she fought with her leaden limbs to a kneeling position and retched, her body trembling with the feat.

As the taste of acidic bile pervaded her mouth, Hermione realized that it had been her who was screaming.

Darkness consumed her and she knew no more.


	4. Chapter 4

"Who do you think she is, Albus?" Professor McGonagall laid a tender hand on the girl's warm forehead.

"Well, judging by her robes, she appears to be a Hogwarts student. A Gryffindor." The old wizard stopped his pacing to examine the girl in the white hospital bed, "Although I must confess that I have never met her before in my life." He raised his grave, light blue eyes to the concerned face of the Professor.

"I suppose that we will just have wait until she wakes up to question her, then?" McGonagall looked expectantly at the Headmaster, "What does this mean, Albus?"

The old man frowned in concentration, the wrinkles on his forehead becoming more pronounced, "I do not know." He said as he delicately fingered the golden trinket that had been found next to the girl, "I do not know."

Hermione awoke to the sound of hushed whispering, afraid to open her eyes. She had a massive headache and felt as if she had just run eight miles at a sprint. Her stomach flopped dully, and she tightened her grip on the sheets. The only way to describe this excruciating feeling of dizziness was that she felt like she could feel the Earth spinning in orbit. Not one of her favorite feelings, she decided.

With her eyes still closed, she went over what happened in her mind's eye. Okay, she took a slow breath to steady herself, she had been sent to Dumbledore's office because of the fight. In the Headmaster's office she had seen her (timeturner/timetable) picked it up, dropped it, and now she was here…Where was here.

Forgetting to be afraid, or nauseous, Hermione opened her brown eyes to the world around her. Dumbledore's sparkling light blue eyes met her own.

"Ah, yes. She's coming around now I think." He peered at her, expression indiscernible, through the half-moon glasses resting on his crooked nose, before turning away "Madam Pomfrey!" he called.

No longer hypnotized by the unreadable expression in his eyes, Hermione looked around the room. To the right of her comfortable hospital bed was Professor McGonagall. She was bent over Hermione in an almost parental position of concern. Hermione's eyes widened as her eyes traced over her Professor's face. There were none of the familiar frown lines around her mouth, which was in its usual tight-lipped expression, and her hair appeared to be a lighter, healthier shade of brown.

"Professor McGonagall?" Hermione whispered, trying out her voice for the first time since she had awoken. At this, McGonagall gasped in surprise and stepped backwards a few steps in shock, one hand raised to her heart. Dumbledore, who had been conversing with a thinner Madam Pomfrey, stopped mid-sentence and turned to look at Hermione with a calculating look in his eyes.

"Who are you?" the old wizard asked quietly.

Hermione swallowed nervously, what was going on? "My name is Hermione Granger. I am currently a fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am a Gryffindor and…" she trailed off at the end, not sure what else she was going to say. And I have absolutely no idea what is going on, maybe?

"Tell us everything you can remember about what happened before this moment, Hermione."

"Okay. Um," Hermione became slightly flustered, " It was the second day of school and my friends Ron and Harry and I. Well, we had gotten into a fight with a few Slytherins." She blushed at this, but no one showed any change of expression, "Professor McGonagall had sent me up to Professor Dumbledore's office to explain our misbehavior. When I arrived Professor Dumbledore changed the color of the walls to sapphire and I was about to tell him when his oven started beeping. At least I think it was his oven…Anyway, I was looking around the room when I saw my old (timeturner/timetable) on his desk. I picked it up and accidentally fell and dropped it when the Headmaster offered me some cookies." Hermione panted, exhausted with spending so much time talking.

"Would this object, perchance, be said (timeturner/timetable)?" asked Professor Dumbledore, holding up the golden ornament.

"Yes! But-but, how is it not broken? I dropped it!" Hermione shot up to a sitting position in her bed, ignoring the fluttering hands of Madam Pomfrey. Groaning as the nausea and headache caught up to her, she sunk slowly back down to the soft pillows again.

"This (timeturner/timetable) has the ability to take one through time, you say?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Unable to speak for fear of throwing up, Hermione managed a little nod of her head.

"What was the year before you traveled through time?" Dumbledore asked eagerly.

"It was the year 2004."

There was a shocked silence as Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Dumbledore stared at her in disbelief. It was the Headmaster who broke the silence, clearing his throat, "Miss Granger. It appears that you have traveled fifty years into the past." A sudden understanding brightened his eyes, "That is why the (timeturner/timetable) is no longer broken, if this were the future it would certainly be broken. Ah! I see! Yes, yes!" The old wizard held it in both hands, staring down at it with anticipation as he stepped away from them, skipping merrily in his excitement, "So all that you would have to do to get back is—" He twisted and turned the little instrument rapidly for a few seconds before disappearing into the air.

Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey screamed and hugged each other. Hermione looked on with wide eyes. This couldn't be good.

"Albus?! Albus!" Madam Pomfrey screamed shrilly, and Professor McGonagall separated herself from her immediately. The nurse turned to the professor, clearly distraught, "Where did he go?" she whispered fearfully, the same horrified look on her round face.

McGonagall took a deep breath to steady herself then looked from Madam Pomfrey to Hermione, "It appears that he has gone fifty years into the future." She nodded curtly, as if trying to convince herself.

"But-but Professor! How will I get back? He has the (timeturner/timetable)!" Hermione was starting to hyperventilate. She was stuck here? In this time? She couldn't get back home? This was horrible! She would never see her best friends again. Her life had changed radically within the last half hour, oh how she wished that she had just followed her own advice and ignored Malfoy!

As Hermione started to cry and hyperventilate Madam Pomfrey swooped into action, latching the familiar routine of helping students. Professor McGonagall, pale with shock but still strong as steel, put her hand on Hermione's consolingly. "Don't worry, knowing Albus I am sure that he will find a way back to this time, with your (timeturner/timetable)." Hermione relaxed a little at hearing this and wiped some tears from her wide eyes.

"But for now, I think it is best if you resume your classes at Hogwarts. Today is the second day of term in this time as well."

After giving Hermione some medicine and she had fallen asleep, Professor McGonagall turned to Madam Pomfrey. "Please spread the word of Albus' departure to the other teachers. I will go change the password to Dumbledore's office and have a large brandy. Goodnight."


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione woke up the next morning with the weight of what had happened upon her shoulders. Madam Pomfrey had given her a change of clothes, the password to the prefects bathroom and her new schedule. So, blinking at the green 5:30 on her wristwatch, which she was surprised was still working perfectly, she had stumbled off to the prefects bathroom.

Now she was standing under the spray of water, which she had turned to the hottest level, trying to imagine that she was washing away all of her anxieties and worries. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to catch the full force of the water, steam curling up from around her feet, and exhaled a slow and steady breath.

Well I can't stay in here forever, she thought, and promptly switched the water off and wrapped herself in a towel. She stepped across the white tile floor, dripping, towards her clothes. But she stopped when she saw herself in the mirror. She felt the familiar tingle in the back of her mind, the one she felt when she was about to find something out. Something important.

She stepped up close to the mirror, chocolate eyes locked onto the eyes reflected there before her. She stared into those eyes for a few moments, willing her reflection to disclose the grand idea that she could feel at the edge of her consciousness. She had pretty eyes, she realized. They were deep and warm with the brown darkening in color as it came closer to her pupil. Framed by thick and naturally long lashes, her eyes were beautiful.

She laughed a little, breath fogging the mirror, realizing how vain she was being right now. She had never been vain before, hardly taking any time to make herself look decent. Turning away from the mirror she wondered how other people thought about her.

She froze midstep, there it was. The idea.

This was her chance to be who she wanted to be, unhindered by any of the preconceived impressions of who she was in the past. She would still be herself. But maybe, she smiled looking into the mirror again, maybe she would change things a bit.

Feeling a lot better about her situation, she proceeded to get dressed, mentally making a list of things that she was going to do and not do.

She was going to be more outgoing. She was going to smile more. She was going to make friends, friends that were girls and could understand her. She was going to have fun, not spend every minute hiding behind a book. She was going to be the best in the class. She was going to live.

Fully dressed with her towel and schedule in hand, she turned towards the mirror again. She smiled and threw her used towel into the bin before waving goodbye to her reflection, her past self, and walking out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys! If anyone is reading this, would you please, please review? oh yeah and I can't believe I forgot to say this but all this stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling. She is the true magician; I just play with her characters heehee 

Hermione decided to visit Professor McGonagall to ask about her school supplies. She had no money and would need to have them provided for her. After talking to Madam Pomfrey, she found out that the professor had gone to the Headmaster's office.

So here she was, standing next to the colossal stone gargoyle, and not knowing the password for the life of her. She was starting to get really frustrated when none of the passwords she thought of worked and the stone giant would not move.

"Have you tried sugar quills?" a voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see who had spoken and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Harry?" she asked stupidly, her arms uncrossing as she stepped forward.

The boy frowned, looked over his shoulder to see if she was talking to someone else then peered down at her, his hazel eyes narrowed in confusion.

She swallowed nervously under his intense stare, but was relieved when his face broke into a familiar grin. "I'm James." He stuck out his hand for her to shake, "James Potter."

"I'm Hermione Granger." she smiled widely; it was like seeing her best friend all over again! Except, she noted, there were some differences. James was tanner than Harry; maybe because of all of those years Harry had spent in a cupboard. James' hair seemed browner than Harry's pitch black locks. He also seemed to be thinner than Harry; she could distinctly feel the bones when they shook hands. And he seemed to be a few inches taller than Harry; Harry had always been rather short she reasoned. James' eyes were the biggest difference though; instead of Harry's large green ones his eyes were almond shaped and hazel. Also, unlike Harry's circular glasses, James sported a pair of simple rectangular specs with thin wiring. And of course, she noted as James ruffled his already messy hair back, there was no scar.

"So," James stepped back and stuck his hands in his pockets, " I don't remember seeing you before, Hermione, you new to Hogwarts?"

Hermione blinked, not sure how much she should be saying, "Uh…" She noticed that James was looking at her expectantly, "Yes. I'm new to Hogwarts, I've got my schedule right here, see. I just need to pick up my school supplies before I go get lost in the halls." She smiled when James laughed, glad that he had believed her and also feeling strangely refreshed to hear a laugh that she had grown up with. He had Harry's laugh, it was so unique that she was certain she could recognize it anywhere. His laugh was always louder than you expected, and it sounded as if it had been fighting to be free and now that it was unrestrained it was the most joyful thing in the world.

James coughed awkwardly, tousling his hair again, and looked away. She realized that she had been staring at him admiringly for the past few seconds. She surprised herself by laughing at her mistake, normally she would have blushed and stared at the ground.

Grinning again, James was about to ask her something else when the Gargolye jumped to the side and Professor McGonagall stomped out of the entrance, looking very stressed.

"Oh Miss Granger. You are here for your school supplies, I expect?" Hermione nodded. "Well, you may go and fetch them, they are right outside the doorway in the office." Hermione began to skip briskly up the stairwell before Professor McGonagall's voice stopped her, "Oh and Miss Granger? Please don't touch any er…instruments." Hermione laughed and stood still, letting the moving stairwell carry her the rest of the way up.

When she reached the top and opened the door to Dumbledore's office she smiled when she faintly heard Professor McGonagall scream in surprise and say, "Potter!"


	7. Chapter 7

Hermione had a choice to make.

First period started in an hour's time, meaning that most of the students would just be getting out of their warm and comfortable beds and heading down to breakfast. Professor McGonagall had thoughtfully provided her with a trunk of school robes and school supplies, and she needed to move her stuff into the Gryffindor dormitories.

Normally, Hermione would have waited around in the halls, avoiding people for a good twenty minutes, then move her stuff into the dormitories while everyone was at breakfast. After setting herself up, she would hurry to her first period. That was a typical shy, bookworm Hermione move.

She froze in the action of reaching for her trunk, hadn't she told herself that she was going to change? Yes, she bit her lip, nervous, this was the first step towards change.

Before she could change her mind, she swiped up her bag of school supplies and ran down the stairs as fast as she could. She charged out of the entrance to Dumbledore's office, Gargoyle leaping out of her way, feeling strong and determined and—

pain as she managed to run her nose right into James' chest. Ow, this new Hermione wasn't working out so well. She took a step back from him, rubbing her nose and thinking about the many times when she had done the same thing to Harry. Maybe standing in the way of wherever Hermione was planning on running was a genetic trait.

"Ow! Do you always run everywhere?" James rubbed his chest absently, giving her a condescending look before walking away. Hermione stood there, frozen in the action of rubbing her nose. What? Was he mad at her? How could this be Harry's dad? She stared after him in disbelief and confusion.

After James strutted a few feet, he stopped and grinned over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised, "You coming or not, Hermione?" She laughed before running up to walk beside him, staring up at Harry's dad with a smile. Sometimes she just didn't know what to think about Harry, and apparently she could expect to be confused just as much by his father.

Hermoine walked confidently next to James Potter through the mostly empty hallways towards the great hall. Wow, this whole changing herself thing was easier than she thought! She wasn't even nervous! Hermione grinned as she sat down at the Gryffindor table, glad that the food smelled as delicious in the past as it did in the future. Wait. Did she just think of the future in the past tense? Um…

Other Gryffindors started slouching into the great hall, drawn by the mouthwatering scent of breakfast, distracting her from her thoughts. As Hermione filled up her plate she noticed that James had been spooning eggs onto his plate absently for a while now, it was practically a mountain. She took a bite of toast and watched him curiously, what was he doing? He kept glancing up whenever someone would enter the great hall, not paying any attention to the towering pile of eggs on his plate.

"James." she said, afraid of the now wobbling mound of eggs, "James!" she said again, this time pinning his hand to the table to stop him from spooning even more eggs onto his plate. He turned to her, surprised, like he forgot she was there. Hermione was surprised when he looked distractedly at the monstrous pile of eggs without seeming embarrassed about his strange behavior at all. He just started spooning them off of his plate and returned to watching people enter the great hall, one hand rumpling his untidy hair.

Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes before returning to her own breakfast, feeling a little lost because the only person she knew was ignoring her.

"Oh don't bother with him, he's looking for Lily. A dementor could run in here and dance the can can and he still wouldn't notice." Hermione turned, laughing at the image of a dementor doing the can can, to smile at a girl beside her. She had soft brown hair cut into what could almost be considered a boyish haircut. But, Hermione looked at the butterfly clip in her hair that fluttered its sparkling wings vaguely, she had never seen someone so strikingly feminine. Open and joyful big, blue eyes shined brightly at Hermione from a dimpled face.

"My name's Alice Prewett!" the small girl stuck out a dainty hand with red polish on her long, elegant nails, "And who might you be?"

"I'm Hermione Granger, and I'm new to Hogwarts. Nice to meet you, Alice!" Hermione felt herself smiling widely as Alice shook her hand energetically.

Alice swiped a piece of toast from a boy's hand who was sitting down beside her, laughing. "And this here is Frank Longbottom, he gives me my toast every morning." She said dismissively as Frank wrapped his arms around her waist, smiling and shaking his head at her.

"Oh!" said Hermione, "Its nice to meet you Frank!" He nodded at her in what could only be described as a cool way before reaching for another piece of toast, one arm still wrapped around Alice. Hermione beamed for joy! She had just met Neville's parents! She wondered excitedly who else she would meet.

She didn't have to wonder long.

She dropped her fork in surprise when someone sat on her.

"Sirius no! What have I told you about sitting on people?" Hermione caught a brief glimpse of a thin boy sitting across from her who looked exasperated. Sirius? Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, is sitting on me? Oh man she couldn't wait to tell Harry and Ron, she stifled a laugh.

"Seriously! You're crushing her, remember what I said to you about this?" The other boy, who must have mistaken Hermione's stifled giggle for a sound of suffocation, said anxiously.

Sirius leapt off her so fast it was like he was never sitting on her. "Oh right! I remember!" He looked at Hermione through mischievous, glittering gray eyes, "I'm only allowed to sit on you, Remus!" Sirius promptly threw himself onto the other boy, laughing as Remus yelped in surprise. Hermione sat there in shock, Sirius? And Remus? She found herself laughing as Remus shoved Sirius off his lap muttering something she couldn't hear and blushing, turning his face downwards to hide it behind his honey brown locks.

Sirius, who appeared to have gotten bored with Remus, elbowed James in the side before turning to Hermione when he got no reaction. "So whats your name, love?" He set the full force of his intense gaze upon her.

Hermione had to remember to breathe, "I'm Hermione Granger. And you are Sirius, the boy who sits on people. Its nice to meet you." She smiled when Sirius laughed a barking laugh and leaned against Remus, who was resting his chin on his hands with his elbows on the table, looking at her shyly through amber eyes.

"This here's Remus Lupin and ah! Here comes Peter Pettigrew!" Sirius touseled Remus' hair, making it a slightly fluffy mess before leaning back in his seat and waving at a short and chubby boy who could only be Peter Pettigrew.

Peter sat next to Remus and extended his hand across the table to her, "Peter."

She had just enough wits about her to shake his hand, which wasn't long nailed or grimy at all, "Hermione."

She turned back to her food, feeling really flustered. She had just met Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew!

Sirius was so different from the adult that she remembered. He was full of life and energetic and, she couldn't deny it, he was beautiful. His black hair, which she imagined was unbelievably soft, fell around his face with elegance. His grey eyes were deep and mysterious but they were filled with an almost childish excitement. He had clear fair skin, almost bordering on pale and a large impish grin with perfect teeth. Unlike the emaciated figure of his adulthood, Sirius body was slender but more muscular than any of the other boys. She blinked away the feeling of tears when she thought of the poor decrepit life before this radiant young man.

Alice offered her a strawberry from a plate further down the table, and she took it, smiling despite her thoughts. It was then that she felt someone's gaze on her. She looked up, flipping her hair to the side with the sudden movement, and was caught in an amber gaze.

Remus was staring at her through eyes that she had never seen on any human before. The very shape of his eyes was exotic, not to mention the inhuman color that penetrated her soul. His eyes widened when she stared back at him, and he swiftly looked away somewhere to his left, his ears, which she noticed were slightly pointed, coloring a little through his hair. She stared at him for a moment more, enraptured, before focusing her attention back to her food.

Why had she never noticed his eyes before? Surely they hadn't changed their color from youth to adulthood? No, she reasoned, she must have never really looked. But she had looked now, and she was surprised at the many things that she had never noticed before.

He had one short, thin scar right along his cheekbone, a little under his eye, and an even thinner one cutting vertically across the right corner of his upper lip. However, these were not the most noticeable of the scars. He had two longer scars, both of them coming across the bridge of his nose and trailing along his left cheek. And his neck had a nasty looking pink scar that traced under his shirt.

Remus was obviously struggling with his lycanthropy, and it showed. His skin, which looked like it should be a healthy tan, was pale and he had dark purple circles under his eyes. He was the skinniest out of all of them, she could see the bones in his shoulder and elbows poking out through the white shirt he wore. Compassion for him flowed through her so suddenly and strongly it caught her by surprise. She looked up to see him grinning at Peter in between large bites of food.

Peter.

Was he plotting to betray them now, as he sat with them at the breakfast table? She tried to not look accusing and judging when she let her eyes roam the room and they rested upon him. He certainly didn't look like the other Marauders, who were all tall and lithe. Peter appeared confident and happy, his brown eyes cheerful as he told a joke to Remus, who nodded appreciatively. He was a slightly chubby boy with freckles and auburn hair and dimples! Dimples for goodness sake! Hermione looked closer, her eyes narrowing. How in the world did this boy turn into the filthy, groveling man with frizzed hair and a bald spot and a potbelly and-and! No! There was no way, Hermione almost choked on a bite of toast. Disgusted, she decided that she would try to find him out later, preferably when she wasn't trying to eat!

It was then that she noticed that James had still not changed his position from when they had first sat down. He now mixed his plate full of breakfast foods around idly while he stared at the entrance to the great hall. (he had put all the eggs back and then filled his plate up with other food). Hermione frowned, this was so strange! Something was clearly distracting him and she had no idea what it could be. From her past experience with Harry and Ron, she knew that teenage boys always attacked food with a fierceness matching that of a starved lion. But what could be so distracting that James couldn't take a bite of the food he had piled onto his plate? Quidditch maybe, she had heard that he was a superb Quidditch player from Harry and Ron.

Just then, a girl rushed into the great hall, clutching her books to her chest. James promptly dropped his spoon, looked down at it quickly, then jerked his head back up to look at the girl, his hazel eyes wide and mouth slightly open. She ran to sit with her friends on the other side of the table and Hermione watched, curious, as James' whole head turned as he stared after the girl, his right hand twisting the napkin on the table.

Alice said, "Oy! Lily!" before she squirmed out of Frank's sudden bear hug, giggling, and skipped over to the girl who had just sat down. A sudden burst of understanding hit Hermione as she watched James slowly bend down to pick up his spoon and feel around the floor for it before he found it, not once taking his eyes off the red head. Lily and James were Harry's parents! Interested, she pretended to be looking around the room and hastily glanced at Lily.

It was no wonder that James Potter couldn't take his eyes off her. The girl was gorgeous, and it was the plain and simple truth. She had fiery red hair that could rival the Weasley's, and shocking emerald green eyes that were framed by thick and long lashes. Harry's eyes. She wasn't short, but she wasn't tall either. She had fair skin that was sprinkled with freckles and curves that would make any girl jealous. Hermione looked back to James, who was looking at his plate now and nervously running a hand through his messy hair, biting his lip. So, unlike Nevill's parents, Harry's parents were obviously not together. Interesting. From the short amount of time that Hermione knew him, she hadn't thought that James seemed like a very confident, self-aware person. She marveled that this one girl could so quickly reduce him to a distracted, clumsy, unsure boy.

Everyone had mostly finished eating, except James who had given up mixing his food around and was now pretending he wasn't staring at Lily, and Professor McGonagall stood up to the podium.

"Students! Attention please! Over here, yes, thank you." Professor McGonagall said as the chattering died down, "I am sorry to inform you that Headmaster Dumbledore has taken a rather untimely vacation and will not be serving as our Headmaster until he returns." She waited, patiently, for the talking to die down, "Until he does, I will serve as your new Headmaster. That is not to say that I will not continue teaching transfiguration. I hope that you all have an excellent year at Hogwarts and that Headmaster Dumbledore will be home soon. I really, really hope he comes back soon. Uh…" she stopped, realizing she was straying off topic," Thankyou." She stepped down to go converse with the other teachers after a terse nod at the student body.

There was a shocked silence, and then everyone burst out into speech at once. Hermione sat still, watching it all take place around her. She decided that if Professor McGonagall hadn't mentioned the real reason for Dumbledore's absence than she shouldn't either. She had better make up a story about why she was here soon then, and run it by Professor McGonagall. She grimaced at the idea of lying about who she was, but she knew the rules of time travel, it was best not to disrupt anything. And its not like she could keep saying, "Oh yeah! I'm new here." Yeah?

"Hey! First class starts in ten minutes!" Sirius grabbed her schedule from the pile of books next to her and read it, "Aw man! You have potions first and I have it second. Bugger!" He frowned before breaking into a smile, "But hey! I have transfiguration with you third period!"

He grabbed James' head and roughly turned it towards them, "Hey Prongs, you got Potions first period?" James fixed his glasses, which had fallen off one ear and were lopsided, and said he didn't. Sirius, who was still holding James' head, shoved it away from him, "Aw, useless! I guess you'll just have to get lost on your way to your first class, Hermione. That sucks, I'm sorry about that." And with that, Sirius casually tossed her schedule at her and stood up and left the great hall.

Hermione pretended nervousness, when really she was trying not to laugh. Everyone had started leaving the table, so she busied herself with collecting her books and putting them into her bag.

"I have potions first period, I can show you the way, if you like." Remus said, holding his own books tightly to his chest and looking at her with an almost worried expression. This struck her as odd, why would he be worried? Oh, she resisted the urge to smack herself in the forhead, he must be worried that I really will get loss in the halls.

Hermione stood up and looked up into his eyes, smiling, a little confused when he looked away quickly, "Sure! That would be great, thanks." She started walking out of the great hall and he followed, stealing curious glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking.


	8. Chapter 8

_thanks to everyone who reviewed! i really enjoy hearing what you guys think about this :) so please keep them coming! i really hope i got remus right. this ones a long one, i swear i rewrote it like a bajillion times but here it is!_

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They were almost to the dungeons when Hermione realized that she had already made a huge mistake. She was so excited with her new confident Hermione self that she forgot to play the part of the hesitant new student! She had been leading Remus all the way to the potions classroom! She wasn't supposed to know where she was going; she was "new" to Hogwarts.

Hermione stopped walking in shock, not sure what to do to fix this blunder. Surely he had noticed? Remus walked right into her, causing her to drop her bag full of books onto the floor under the many trampling feet of the crowd filling the hallway. She stayed frozen, still thinking of the problem she had caused and feeling slightly overwhelmed, not knowing what to do about it. Remus crouched down and started gathering her books for her and putting them hurriedly into her bag, muttering a quiet apology. He was just putting her herbology textbook back into her bag when a foot kicked it out of his hand, sending it skidding across the floor. The same foot, accompanied by its pair, glided gracefully over to where her book lay and a black-gloved hand picked it up.

Hermione gasped when she looked into the cold blue eyes of Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy. He held out the herbology textbook to her, lips twisting into the very same smirk that his son would wear on his own pale face. Hermione, telling herself that she was new and confident Hermione, not scared of death eaters Hermione, stepped forward to try and take the book from him. She was surprised when he let her take the book, and even more surprised when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. "I don't believe that I have had the pleasure of meeting you before. Tell me, what's your name?"

Hermione uselessly tried to yank her wrist out of his grip, frowning a little in confusion before answering. "Hermione Granger. It's nice to meet you," she lied, "but you're crushing my arm." She looked pointedly down at his hand clenched securely around her wrist. He let go quickly, raising his eyebrows in surprise. His cold gaze then traveled to Remus, who, Hermione just noticed, had come to stand right beside her. Remus adjusted the strap to Hermione's bag on his shoulder nervously, but didn't step away from her, as Malfoy glared at him through judging eyes. Turning back to Hermione again, while his eyes still looked condescendingly at the boy beside her, Lucius opened his mouth as if to say something. But Hermione quickly linked arms with Remus and was towing him away down the hall towards the potions classroom before Lucius could get a word out.

* * *

Hermione busied herself with taking her potions book out of her bag and placing it neatly on her wooden desk, pointedly ignoring the speculative glances that she knew her new friend must be sending her. She saw that her hand was shaking and squeezed it into a fist, trying to get over this strange shaky feeling that had suddenly swept through her. What was this? She had never been scared of a Malfoy before, father or son. And she sure as hell wasn't scared of Lucius, he was exactly like Draco but with longer hair, she reasoned. And if anything, he should be more frightening as an adult than as a teenager. So then why, oh why was she feeling like this?

Hermione looked up and saw that, rather than what she had thought was a suspicious stare, Remus was smiling at her. She breathed out a shaky sigh of relief and grinned back; maybe he really didn't notice her mistake. Maybe she was just being paranoid before, it wouldn't be the first time. He was still a kid, she reasoned, it's not like he would be paying that close attention to what she did anyway. She really hoped that he didn't notice that it was the "new girl" who had been leading him to their first class.

"I'm sorry that you had to experience that lovely Slytherin welcome so early in the morning." Remus laughed as he said this, slouching casually in his seat, and Hermione noticed that his canines were slightly pointed more than was normal, "I'm sure that you can tell by now that the Slytherin house is generally not considered the most friendly at Hogwarts." He flipped through his book idly; moving his eyes to look up at her indifferently without moving his head to face her, "I'm also sure that I'm not the first one to tell you this."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "It was a rather annoying start to the day, grappling with some arrogant guy who clearly didn't understand how to execute a proper handshake." Then she remembered the way that Lucius had glared at him and asked, "Does he bother you often?" She couldn't help but ask.

He dropped her gaze and rubbed his shoulder in what she assumed was an unconscious movement of discomfort, "Well. We've had our share of erm…disagreements." He coughed and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes before playing with the cuff of his sleeve, "Mostly due to that overly large superiority complex of his I expect."

Hermione flushed in anger. That was just like a Malfoy to mistreat someone like Remus. "Typical Slytherin behavior! Lucius is so arrogant! He thinks that he can just walk all over people!" She panted with the emotion that had fueled her words for a moment before she noticed that Remus was staring at her with a peculiar, intent look on his thin face. "What?"

"How did you know his name was Lucius?"

Hermione stopped breathing, thinking rapidly. During their encounter this morning with Malfoy, the Slytherin had never once told her his name. Her mind reeled, sprinting through all of the reasons why the new girl could possibly know someone at school who she had never met before.

Taking a wild guess, Hermione asked, "Doesn't his father work for the Ministry?"

"Yes, I believe he does." Amber eyes stared at her through wisps of honey brown hair and she knew that he was still suspicious. Hermione turned away from him and pretended to study the chalkboard. This was the second mistake she had made in front of him! She really had to be much more careful. She replayed their conversation in her mind and winced; it was like he had set her up for another mistake. He had acted very casual and relaxed, setting the mood for an open and friendly conversation. Then he had heightened her emotions by playing on her sympathies and ignited her anger against Malfoy, her rage overpowering her usual calm and cautious reasoning. She had become careless and accidentally said something she shouldn't have. One thing was for sure; she had most definitely underestimated Remus.

She was relieved when the Potions teacher strolled to the front of the class and clapped twice to get the students attention. From that moment on she was in her element. She poured herself into her work, pushing those uncomfortable thoughts away. The classroom was her place, no matter what time period it was. It was a comfortable routine, turning the pages of her textbook to answer the questions from the warm up activity. She sighed quietly in contentment to the sound of quills scratching away on rough parchment.

Wait! Wasn't she supposed to not be a total bookworm? Hermione contemplated this as Remus went up to gather the ingredients for their potion. Well, she reasoned, a bookworm was part of who she was and no amount of newfound confidence could change that. She just wouldn't hide behind them anymore, and with that thought in mind she smiled sweetly at Remus as he walked back to their desks. He looked at her with an expression that she couldn't really decipher before he smiled back at her. She had to act casual, like she hadn't made a mistake. If she acted guilty than he would definitely suspect that she had slipped up on something.

While Hermione sliced up some roots she thought about what had just happened. He had looked at her with such a strange expression; his amber eyes were so unreadable. She wasn't sure what to think of him. At first encounter he had seemed shy: not speaking much, blushing, and avoiding eye contact. But he obviously was much more than she had given him credit for. Her stomach twisted nervously, which one was the real Remus?

The teacher came around with slips of paper in his hand and Hermione absently took one and laid it on the corner of her desk. She knew the assignment that they were supposed to be doing, she had read about it at least three times over the summer. The students were supposed to concoct a complicated potion that, when some of a metal substance was put into it, would form the essence of that metal. The essence of said metal, being liquid, was more malleable and pure and therefore used by many witches and wizards to create beautiful art and architecture.

Hermione was roughly disturbed from her thoughts when she heard a crystalline crash right next to her. She jerked her head around to see Remus, standing with his mouth open and a fearful expression in his eyes staring at the little piece of paper on her desk. Her eyes flickered to where his were looking and she quickly read the word, _Silver_. She understood the situation in an instant. He is a werewolf and silver is dangerous to him, and so of course he was a little shocked when he found out that they had to make the essence of silver, and he dropped a beaker.

She briefly considered using this situation to her own advantage. Acting suspicious towards him would be the perfect distraction to get his attention off of her mistakes. But, looking at his distressed face, her heart twisted strangely in her chest and she knew that she couldn't do that.

Thinking fast and pretending that she didn't notice the look on his face and what he was staring at, she made a fuss. "Oh don't worry! I can fix it!" she said loudly, pushing him down into his seat and pointing her wand at the broken glass. "_Reparo_."

She sat there, legs crossed and foot tapping, wondering what she should do. Should she ask the teacher for a different metal? Would Remus suspect that she knew he was a werewolf if she did? What would happen if he were forced to make the potion and come into contact with silver? Would he die and then everyone know he was a werewolf? Why would it matter that everyone knew if he died? Why couldn't she think of anything to do? And if she did do anything, would he suspect that she knew about his secret, just like she had known about Lucius' name?

Not expecting him to talk, she jumped in her seat when he did, "Hey. Are you okay?" She turned to see him sitting straight backed in his chair, his hands clenching the sides of his seat, his face turned towards her with an expression of concern. She realized she had been anxiously twitching in her seat for the past five minutes.

She pointedly stared at his clenched hands that were turning white in the knuckles from gripping the seat so tightly, "Are you?" There was a tense silence between them as he looked at her through wide eyes and she stared at him with an intense look on her face. Suddenly, they both burst out laughing, realizing how ridiculous they were both being. They both relaxed visibly and Remus leaned on his desk, only to shove himself off it with a shriek when the professor dropped a solid block of silver on his desk with a clunk.

"Ah!ha ha ha .ha." he tried to pass off his little scream of terror as a laugh, looking from Hermione to the block of silver anxiously. Poor thing, he doesn't know whether to be more afraid of the deadly silver before him or of me knowing why he's afraid.

Pretending she didn't notice, Hermione reached over and swiped up the block of silver and put it on the corner of her desk that was the farthest from him, "Oh! Please, can I do it? I've read about this before and—"

Remus tried to appear nonchalant as he nodded and squirmed to edge of his seat that was farthest from Hermione, trembling.

And so went the weirdest potions class that Hermione had ever been in. Here she was, sitting next a fifty years younger version of her old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who was incidentally a werewolf, and she was grinding up a block of silver for him. Things couldn't get weirder.

Then suddenly the student in front of her turned around, greasy black hair sticking to the sides of a sickly pale, irritated face with a large hook nose. "Do you perchance have any spare eye of newt? It appears that my partner," he shot a disdainful look at the boy next to him, "has spilled our supply."

Apparently things could get weirder.

Hermione tried desperately to act normal as she said, "Oh yes." and scooped some newt eyes into the empty glass dish that her future potions master held out for her.

Before she could get a good look at Snape, to compare him to the one she knew in the future, he turned swiftly around and continued making his potion. Hermione shook her head, blinking hard, unable to believe what had just happened.

Needless to say, both Hermione and Remus were thoroughly relieved when the class was over. It had most definitely been the weirdest—Hermione decided not to finish that thought, the last time she thought that she had seen a fifty years younger version of a man she despised. And he asked her for newt eyeballs. However, Remus seemed to be having a worse time of it. Deciding that the best thing to do was to follow his lead, she had decided to not say anything. But that didn't mean that she had been willing for him to even get close to the silver, so she pretended to be really bossy and didn't let him get near it. She was sure that he didn't mind not touching it, but she didn't want him to think she knew his secret or that she was really bossy. But it didn't really matter; the most important thing was that he was safe.

Hermione was a little worried about him though, he looked like he was pretty dizzy from the fumes the potion had created when the ground up silver was poured into the cauldron between them. He weaved on his feet when he stood up and, unconsciously, Hermione grabbed one of his arms to steady him. He flinched away from her, jerking his scrawny forearm out of her grip and staggered a few steps before shaking his head and bending down to pick up his books.

The next thing she knew, Remus had gone out the door and was lost in a sea of students. Hermione watched him go, worrying about his health and his suspicions about her, before sighing and gathering her books and walking out of the dungeon.


	9. Chapter 9

_oh poor Hermione. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter! :) review, review, review!_

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Hermione walked slowly through the halls with a slightly bewildered look on her face, hands gripping her bag tightly. She was determined to act very lost this time, even though she was slowly making her way in the right direction to the herbology greenhouses. She even changed direction just a few times in the hallway, scratching her bushy head.

Of course she should have known better than to expect that this behavior would go unnoticed. "Hey Hermione!" She swerved around, putting a slightly distressed and confused look on her face. Peter Pettigrew came jogging up to her, waving his hand. She threw up a little in her mouth and tried to pass it off as a look of relief. Lovely.

"You look lost," he said as she looked back down at her schedule and tried to look very lost, "Where are you headed?"

Not trusting herself to make a face that didn't look disgusted, she kept her head down and said, "I have herbology now. And I'm guessing that it would be outside, cause wouldn't it be in a greenhouse or something?"

"That's where I'm going! Here, I'll show you the way!" Peter beamed, and grabbed her shoulder in excitement and Hermione resisted the urge to growl at him like a dog, His enthusiasm was catching though, and, to her horror, Hermione found herself smiling as she pointedly stayed a few paces behind him as he ambled out Hogwarts' front doors and onto the grounds.

Hermione was feeling very surprised and rather guilty as she found that she actually enjoyed being around Peter. She couldn't allow herself to think of him as a friend, but he was just so endearing and easy to get along with. Every time that she found herself grinning at him across the great bulbous orange plant between them, that was currently singing a nonsensical tune, she reminded herself that he was nothing more than a traitor. She imagined Harry and Ron's looks of disgust and disappointment if they found out that she was friendly with the man who betrayed Harry's Parents to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

When she discovered that the pair of gardening gloves in front of her had a large hole, right in the palm, he generously offered that she take his and they switch pairs. This just makes loathing him even harder! She tried to glare at him as he hummed happily, pulling her ripped gloves on his pudgy hands, but found her face twisted into a grin of sorts. Maybe he wasn't a traitor yet, she thought, he certainly doesn't seem as deranged and horrible as the last time I met him. Oh there I go, talking about the future in the past tense again!

Telling herself that she would feel guilty for this later, she talked to him the whole class. Except this time, she was very careful to appear so ignorant that it made her want to bury herself in the dirt that she was currently digging a hole in, she felt so fake. She felt phony because she was acting nicely to the man who made her best friend become an orphan, and also because she was pretending to be unknowledgeable to him. The latter was definitely the least of the two reasons, she was sure. Right?

She left herbology feeling a lot happier and more confident of her ability to act clueless, something she never would have been proud of before. Up ahead of her she saw the girl that she had met this morning, Alice Prewett. Neville's mom. She hesitated; Alice was walking with a large group of girls.

The uncertainty only lasted a second, and Hermione ran up to them, smiling, "Hello Alice!" Hey, this whole not hiding anymore Hermione thing wasn't too hard, why didn't she try it before?

She was gratified when Alice turned to her, a wide dimpled smile spreading across her face, "Hi there!" she placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder sweetly and turned to face the other girls, "Girls, this is Hermione, she's new to Hogwarts." A chorus of hi's and hello's greeted her and Hermione was instantly glad that she had come up to them. It turns out that Alice and the large group of girls were heading for transfiguration, like herself. She would need to learn all of their names eventually, Hermione noted.

Walking through the hallway, Hermione smiled to herself as the girls around her talked and giggled. For as long as she could remember, Hermione had never been very popular with the other girls at Hogwarts, always trailing along after Ron and Harry. She felt a childish kind of excitement at the prospect of finally having some friends that she could talk to about certain issues boys wouldn't understand.

Just then, completely wrapped up in her own thoughts, which seemed to be happening a lot lately Hermione realized; she was knocked to the floor, someone sitting on her. "Ow!" she cried as her head bounced off the hard stone. Bleary eyed, she blinked up at Sirius, who was sitting on her. Again…in the middle of the hallway! Hermione squeaked in embarrassment.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." Sirius drawled, looking down at her cockily. Hermione blushed with embarrassment and anger and at the intensity of his cloudy grey stare, even if it was only joking. The girls around them yelled at him angrily in between stifled snorts of laughter to stop crushing their new friend.

Hermione tried to push him off weakly, but stopped when a voice shouted at them, "Sirius! What are you crushing Hermione for?" Hermione ignored Sirius, who was pressing his face up really close to hers and rubbing his hand against her cheek murmuring something like, 'don't mind them, doll, they're just jealous', and she turned her head to see James stomping up to them with an angry look on his face. The girls swarmed up to him, pleading that he stop Sirius, and James nodded, frowning, his mouth a stern line that could rival McGonagall's.

Alice stopped beating Sirius uselessly on the shoulders and looked up to James expectantly. James, hands on his hips, frowned down at his friend, who was currently lying back on Hermione like she was a coach, "Sirius! This is ridiculous! I can't believe you didn't wait for me!"

Alice, who had been nodding in agreement with what James was saying; shrieked when he swiftly jumped onto Sirius with a war cry that attracted the stares of even more students. Hermione felt all of her breath shoot out of her lungs with a whoosh and in some distant part of her mind she realized that this was really funny.

Hermione saw a flash of James' thin face under Sirius elbow, his eyes closed happily and his mouth upturned in a childish smile, as he squished her into a Hermione-like smear on the ground. She felt like she was suffocating and tried desperately to escape, finding it slightly ironic that everyone around her seemed to be smiling as she died. She had never pictured dying like this, not once in a million years! Wait till she told Harry and Ron!

In that moment a large bell rang, signaling that they were late for class, Hermione's eyes widened in horror, and she somehow managed to scream, despite the side of her face squashed against the floor and the two buffoons crushing her. Sirius shot off of her like a rocket, causing James to go flying about four feet in the air and fall to the floor on his bottom. This must have been extremely painful, but he scampered back to Hermione almost as soon as he crashed to the floor.

Sirius was kneeled down next to her crumpled figure; his beautiful eyes wide with concern as she breathed raggedly, fighting the insane urge to laugh hysterically. Honestly, there was nothing funny about this. She had just been nearly suffocated, late for class, and considering telling her friends who weren't even born yet how she died! Hermione found herself clutching her ribs and laughing so hard she was crying.

"You broke her!" James' scream was muffled by her bushy hair as he securely latched himself onto her in a desperate hug. Hermione just laughed even more, tears running down her grinning face, as she realized that James and Sirius had misunderstood the reason why she was crying.

"Hurry! We've got to get her to the hospital wing!" Sirius gently brought her to a standing position, actually holding her up for a few moments because her legs wouldn't support her, she was laughing so hard. Seeing that she wasn't going to be walking herself to the hospital wing anytime soon, Sirius decided that he actually did need to pick her up, holding her under the armpits like she was a child; meanwhile, James hugged her tightly in what he obviously thought was a comforting embrace, his bony arms in a stranglehold around her neck.

Hermione shook her head, laughter dying down a bit as she smiled, "No, no. I'm fine, I was just laughing. Put me down!" she giggled again when James softly brushed some of the tears off her flushed face, his face still a caricature of worry, "Don't know why I am though. You two making a Hermione pancake and all that. And-and," Hermione stiffened in Sirius' grip, "We're late for class!" She tried to struggle out of Sirius and James' arms, and whined in frustration when their grips tightened in reflex to her squirming.

Professor McGonagall spoke up just then, "Do not worry Miss Granger, it is not your fault that you're late to class. I saw the whole thing." she raised an eyebrow at them and James and Sirius slowly dropped their arms from around her, smiling sheepishly.

McGonagall rolled her eyes, turning from them, and they followed her obediently into the classroom, Hermione slapping them both in the head when the professor's back was turned.


	10. Chapter 10

Resisting the urge to blush and run to the closest desk as the entire transfiguration class stared at her and Sirius and James, Hermione put on a calm face and stood in the doorway for a moment to look for a good seat.

There! Next to Alice, in the second row! Hermione forced a confident yet shaky smile onto her face and made her way through the classroom to sit next to her friend, very aware of people watching her. She caught herself in the act of reaching into her bag for a book to hide her face behind—no! I am not going to hide behind my books anymore! Instead, she watched as Sirius and James found empty desks in the class as well.

Sirius sauntered over to sit next to Remus, who sat two rows behind Hermione, punched him in the shoulder lightly, and immediately engaging into conversation. Hermione glanced at Remus, he appeared to be feeling much better than he had this morning. But her inspection of the werewolf was cut short by James' strange behavior. He looked like he was going to follow Sirius and claim the desk right behind the two of them, but changed his mind when he was halfway there and jogged over to slide into the seat next to Hermione, stumbling over the leg of his chair in his eagerness to get there and landing in his seat with a plop!

Hermione looked at Alice, a confused look on her face. Alice brought a hand up to cover her mouth, laughing, and pointed at the desk in front of James. Hermione turned around and laughed quietly, before exchanging a knowing look with Alice. James was leaning forward in his seat, enraptured with the red headed girl before him, who was completely oblivious to the admiring stare from the boy behind her.

Of course, Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled, James came to sit next to me because it was the seat directly behind the love of his life. She wondered if Harry knew how obsessed his father was with his mother. She wondered why she wondered that. She wondered if Harry was like this around girls and she had never noticed.

Professor McGonagall brought the attention of the students back to her and described the lesson for today. "We will have to skip the warm up for today, seeing as how there are ten minutes lost to today's lesson." She glared at James and Sirius, who bowed and congratulated himself before getting yanked back into his seat by Remus, "So we will get straight to the practical application of what we are learning today." She swished her wand and a bunch of buttons of every size and color flew to each student's desk, "I expect all of these to be handed in at the end of class today, each of them transfigured into something creative and pertaining to your grade level."

Hermione looked down at her blue button before Alice poked her in the shoulder. She looked up and gasped with laughter, Alice smiled at her childishly, her own yellow button stuck overtop of her eye like a pirate patch.

"I don't think that was quite what she meant, Alice. Nice look though!"

Alice giggled before twisting in her seat to show her other friends. Hermione found herself wondering if Neville had a silly side like that as she turned her attention back to the task before her. She wanted to do something really complicated and impressive, something that would mark her down as the best student in the class form the beginning.

She twisted her mouth, thinking hard before she was startled by an angry voice. "James Potter! I know you did not just throw your button at my head!" Lily turned around in her seat and scowled at James, who smiled, elated to have her attention on him.

"Really now?" He ran a hand through his hair, face scrunched up like he was trying to remember exactly what happened, "No, no. I'm pretty sure I did." James leaned forward; arms crossed against his stomach with his elbows on the desk, and grinned widely at her irritated expression.

Hermione watched, curiously, as Lily raised an eyebrow and flicked a red button at his face, hitting him on the nose, before swiftly turning back around in her seat. James didn't move for a few moments, his once beaming smile now strained, before he sighed and slouched against the back of his chair with an expression that could only be described as a childish pout.

She turned back to her own button and pointed her wand at it, turning it into a galleon while she thought about what had just happened. From what she had observed she gathered that James, wanting Lily to notice him, had done the only thing any insecure teenage boy would do. He threw something at her head. Obviously, Lily, like the rest of the female race, did not find this manner of flirtation appealing and did not return his affections.

Hermione transifigured her button into a small compass when she saw that the person in front of her had, had the same idea to turn their button into a coin. She looked at James out of the corner of her vision, noting how he idly twirled the red button on his desk like a top, looking down dejectedly. She made a few adjustments to her compass, making it look as realistic as possible before she was satisfied. Why didn't Harry's parents get along like Neville's? She had at least expected them to be friends, but this was an entirely different situation. How were these two going to get married when they couldn't even converse normally?

"Sirius! Spit that out!"

Hermione, as well as the rest of the class, twisted around to see a distraught looking Remus smack Sirius in the back, who; eyes narrowed in laughter, was covering his mouth with his hands. Sirius shook his head, glossy black hair swinging about his face saying something unintelligible through his hands in a somewhat defensive tone. Remus sat back down, exasperated, as Professor McGonagall stepped up behind the two.

"Is there a problem Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black?" She looked down at them sternly as Remus looked torn between telling on his friend and asking the teacher for help. Hermione felt a sudden urge to hug him; his nervous expression was so cute. Wait, what?

Luckily, he didn't have to do either because Sirius, swallowing loudly, spoke up for him. "I ate Remus' transfiguration project Professor McGongall." He looked up at her solemnly, all traces of silliness gone from his clear features.

Professor McGonagall stepped back from him in shock, as if she was afraid that the student nodding gravely before might eat her as well. "Mr. Black! Why would you do such a thing?!" Giggles and snickers filled the classroom.

Remus, his scowling face showing traces of exasperation, and Sirius, looking up at McGonagall with wide eyes as if it was obvious, both said at the same time, "It was a cookie."

Just then, the bell rang and the laughing students stood up and collected their things, eager to get to lunch. Hermione quickly gathered her books together and watched in amazement as James, who had not transfigured his button once, swiftly turned it into a beautiful golden ring. He dropped it carelessly next to Hermione's compass, almost bitterly she noted, before he shouldered his bag and walked over to Sirius, Remus, and Professor McGongall. Deciding to save this moment in her consciousness to mull over later, Hermione swung her bag onto her shoulder and followed James.

In an uncharacteristic display of emotion, McGonagall threw up her hands in exasperation as Sirius threw an arm around Remus' lean shoulders and grinned cheekily, totally oblivious to the agitated look on his friends face. "Fine, fine. I don't have the patience to deal with this. Mr. Lupin, you are exempted from today's lesson. You may all go to lunch." She wearily waved them away, pointedly ignoring James, who had opened his mouth as if to say something.


	11. Chapter 11

_hello! sorry i haven't updated for so long, i just have excuses. anyway i hope you like! if anyone has any ideas or anything feel free to tell me! :) i like to know what people are thinking_

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The group slowly ambled through the hallways towards the great hall. Hermione felt strangely ignored, seeing as how the three boys were distracted amongst themselves. She told herself that she was just being insecure and that it wasn't her new friends job to reassure her of their friendship every two minutes. With that thought she went back to her new favorite past time, observing. There was just so much to learn about history, and she was sure that the more she knew about it, the more she would know about what was going on in the future. Was it bad that she was thinking of these people as pieces of history? Another thought for later then.

Apparently, his face wearing the slightest frown and pout, Remus was ignoring Sirius. A difficult feat, seeing as how said Marauder had a lanky arm wrapped around Remus' stiff shoulders and was twirling his soft golden hair around a finger, cooing at him as if Remus was a baby. Hermione could have sworn she saw the werewolf growl when Sirius pinched his cheek, amber eyes focused straight ahead as if determined not to acknowledge his friend.

They made their way to the changing staircases, and Hermione had to put an arm out to catch James in the chest to stop him from walking off the edge as the staircase before them glided away. She looked up at him incredulously and was surprised by what she saw. James stood perfectly still, something that Hermione noticed never happened, arms hanging limply by his sides with his head hanging low.

Resisting the urge to tousle his messy dark brown hair like she did Harry's whenever he felt down, Hermione tugged on the sleeve of his shirt and smiled at him hopefully. Her smile faltered and fell into a concerned look when his hazel eyes kept staring despondently at the floor. She sighed before pushing him gently forward to walk down the staircase that had reappeared before them. He walked forward, slowly. Lifelessly. What could possibly be the reason behind this unusual behavior? Was he still upset about the rejection from Lily?

A loud slap interrupted her thoughts and she looked over her shoulder to see Remus push Sirius away from him roughly with a disgusted and horrified look on his face. Sirius laughed his barking laugh as he bounced off the white rail of the staircase, clutching his stomach with mirth. Remus, angrily muttering something unintelligible, stomped forwards to walk next to Hermione, leaving the howling Sirius behind him.

"What did he do?" She asked, a smile spreading across her face.

Sirius, still laughing, trotted forwards to lean on Hermione's shoulder, wiping tears from his eyes, "Licked his ear. Who knew I'ld get such a reaction?" Hermione's eyes widened as Sirius raised and lowered his eyebrows at her comically.

Sirius erupted into chortles of laughter again as Remus shuddered at the memory and said drily, "I would hardly call that little display licking." The hilarity of the moment was intensified as James walked right into a suit of armor, a surprisingly loud crash resounding through the mostly empty halls as James fell to the floor entangled in shiny plates of armor.

Hermione collapsed into giggles as James laughed loudly, one hand pushing the shield off of his head as he sat sprawled on the ground, the rest of the armor scattered about him. Once again she found herself marveling at the surprising loudness of his laugh, at the suddenness that the emotion was released; it was almost as if it had been bottled inside of him all this time.

She found herself leaning on Remus, laughing as Sirius yanked a chuckling James up by the collar of his shirt and proceeded to dust him off in a surprisingly close imitation to Mrs. Weasley. The only difference being that, in contrast to Mrs. Weasley's soft and fluttering pats, Sirius appeared to be beating the dust off of his friend.

"Okay, okay Sirius." James started to say but was interrupted by a particularly violent swat to the head that caused his glasses to fall lopsided across his face, "Okay!" He pushed Sirius off of him, trying and failing to look angry, "We get it Padfoot!"

Remus stiffened against the still laughing Hermione and James froze in the action of straightening his glasses while Sirius shot a warning look at him. Hermione giggled softly, pretending to be oblivious to their reaction of the accidental use of Sirius nickname, and waved her wand at the scattered pieces of armor on the floor.

She shook her head, accidentally hitting Remus in the face with her lush brown locks, completely unaware of the expression on his face when she did that. "Honestly, if I stay with you all any longer I'll crack a rib with all the laughing. You're absolutely ridiculous."

Sirius was looking mischievously at the boy beside her and opened his mouth to say something but James elbowed him in the gut, plastering a smile on his face while looking at Hermione with a focused gaze. The type of focused look people give you when they are trying to make you focus on them and only them.

Hermione looked over and saw that Remus was blushing and biting his lip and looking at Sirius with wide eyes. Feeling like she had missed something, Hermione raised an eyebrow and glanced at James who hastily linked arms with her and dragged her the rest of the way into the already filled great hall.

She knew that he was purposefully distracting her from what had just happened back there between Sirius and Remus, but she let it go. She would think about it later, it probably had to do with James' unintentional use of Sirius animagi nickname anyway. And seeing as how she wasn't supposed to know about that, Hermione decided to allow herself to be distracted. Even though it didn't make sense for Remus to be looking at Sirius that way when it was James who had made the mistake.

She actually was distracted from these thoughts when the delicious smells of lunch filled her nose and her stomach twisted hungrily.

They all made their way over to an open spot on the Gryffindor table; right next to-Hermione resisted the urge to squeal with excitement-a young Mr. and Mrs. Weasley! She couldn't stop the large smile that spread across her beaming face though, as she sat down across from the two. Molly was fussing over her future husband's necktie, and even though Arthur Weasley rolled his eyes Hermione knew that he appreciated her attentions, it was obvious by the way he squeezed her hand tenderly.

"Hello! I'm Hermione Granger!" Hermione smiled at them, not caring how silly her excited voice sounded because she was so eager to befriend them.

Mrs. Weasley, Hermione couldn't stop herself from thinking of her like that, smiled kindly at her, "Hello Hermione, its nice to meet you. I'm Molly Packert and this is Arthur Weasley. Say hello, Arthur." This last sentence was said out of the corner of her mouth and accompanied by a not so discreet elbow nudge to Mr. Weasley, who was stuffing a chicken drumstick into his mouth. Arthur mumbled a hello around his mouthful of food and Hermione fought the urge to roll her eyes. Like father like son.

Hermione picked a sandwich off of the lunch tray before her and placed it on her plate next to her carrots as she talked pleasantly with the Weasleys. It turned out that both of them were 7th years and both were prefects. Mr. Weasley confirmed his obsession with Muggles by asking her all about the use of scissors when he found out that she was muggleborn.

Hermione crunched a carrot happily after her discussion with Mr. Weasley about the life of muggles and it was then that she felt the heat of someone's stare on her. She looked to her right and saw that Remus was frowning at her, much as someone would frown at a complicated puzzle. He looked away quickly and stuffed some bread into his mouth before turning to James, who was once again staring at Lily and mashing his untouched food with his fork. She knew that it could have been anything, but somehow she knew that underneath his boyish demeanor his brain was working at a rapid pace. She would have found it an admirable quality if it didn't make her stay back in time all that more difficult.

So what was that look about, Hermione wondered as she finished the rest of her sandwich. Remus' exotic amber eyes had looked sort of surprised and confused when he had stared at her through wisps of golden hair, the emotions exaggerated due to the bruise colored circles beneath them. Was it something that she had said? But she couldn't remember saying anything to him since lunch had started. So it must have been something that she had said to Mr. Weasley, but why was Remus eavesdropping on her conversations in the first place?

Hermione's eyebrows creased unconsciously as she reviewed her conversation with Mr. Weasley in her head. All she had done was talk about how she was muggle born and that this was her first year at Hogwarts. Wait! Hermione almost choked on her food. She had told Remus that the reason why she knew Lucious Malfoy's name was because she reasoned that his father worked at the Ministry of Magic!

Only someone that was very involved in the magical community would remember the name of someone who worked in the Ministry of Magic that didn't have a very prominent or remarkable job in the first place. And she had just spent the last twenty minutes discussing with Arthur Weasley about how she had grown up in a muggle household! It was conceivable that a muggle born would know the Minister of Magic's name and maybe the names of a few of the other important officials. But as far as she knew, the Malfoys had never really played such an important role in the Ministry, always relying on their money and connections to achieve status.

Hermione pushed her half full plate away, her appetite diminished. She had just made another mistake in front of Remus again! That made a total of three times that she had slipped up in front of him. She looked out of the corner of her vision at Remus, who was trying to get a very distracted James to eat the mashed up mess on his plate instead of staring at Lily. How much did he suspect? Based on her previous experience with the boy, she knew that, despite all outward appearances, he was in fact a very perceptive and calculating person.

The only problem, she thought in frustration, was that he never let on how much or what he suspected.


End file.
